Heretofore, it has been a prevalent practice in the vulcanizer art to utilize a toggle-like mechanism such as a bull gear crank and heavy structural members including a beam and base to resist high deflection and shear loads caused by the high curing pressure within the tire in the mold.
It has also been proposed to employ bayonet-type lock mechanisms wherein tremendous forces are applied to obtain the desired preloading and, of course, this involves high pressure sliding contacts with resulting imposition of high torque loads which must be resisted by strong and heavy constructions of the parts required for preloaded lock up of the mold sections in mold-closing position.